Allowing employees to work from home can boost productivity and decrease attrition.

How do businesses attract top talent? That's a question every business must ask, and it will be a the topic of Forbes' first "Reinventing America: The Workforce Summit," in Detroit.

At the business I started, Collage.com, one way we do it is by thinking not just outside the box, but outside the office. Collage.com rapidly grew from a University of Michigan hobby project to a company employing more than 30 full-time employees. The company makes customized products like photo books and photo blankets easy for anyone to create. And we've done it by attracting talented developers who can design powerful tools.

How, then, did we — as a start-up company — attract top shelf talent?

We got rid of the office.

Eliminating the office allowed us to recruit across the country, instead of limiting our search to people who live or are willing to move to a limited geographic area. Working from home allows our employees to work where they are happiest and most productive, while giving them control over their own work environment and schedule. It also reduces our overhead so we can invest more in our people.

Our team members love the flexibility. One of our software developers, Craig Schroeder, just became a first-time father. He's able to spend time with his son Eli while working from his home in Pittsfield Township. That's good for Craig, good for Eli — and good for our company.

Without an office, how does any work get done? Online communications tools make it possible for our team to video conference face-to-face anytime. Project management tools keep us all on track. And, regular, in-person all-company meetings — all here in Michigan, where our company is rooted — build collegiality and trust among the team. (So far, three of our out-of-state employees decided to move to Michigan.)

This approach has been successful for Collage.com. Our company generated $15 million in revenue in 2014 — without taking outside funding. Sales have grown exponentially year-over-year, and we've never had an unprofitable year.

Avoiding a physical office isn't the right decision for all companies — but for many businesses, it could be. Doing something just because "it's how we've always done it" isn't a recipe for success — and it certainly isn't attractive to a rising generation of millennials that companies fight over for talent.

Joe Golden is the co-founder and co-CEO of custom products site Collage.com. Golden holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. This column first appeared in the Detroit Free Press.